On this day in 2001 'Mr Tottenham' Bill Nicholson was given a second testimonial by the club after 60 years of service. Fiorentina (Italy) were the visitors at White Hart Lane and Tottenham won 3-0 in front of 35,877 fans. Steffen Freund was playing that day.

Several sources are saying that Jan Vertonghen has already signed his new contract offer and the club will announce it when they can generate maximum media impact. That is quite normal these days, keeping the name in the media is great for sponsors and attracting new interest.

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Former Tottenham striker Peter Crouch is a wanted man by West Ham but the £3 million asking they consider to be a bit steep for the 33-year-old. Andy Carroll has yet another injury and they have an interest in Samuel Eto'o and Hugo Almeida of Besiktas.

David Sullivan told the club’s official website:

“We’ve got offers in for three or four strikers – one in England, three abroad – and we just hope to land one of them.

“We do need to sign another player. We have worked 24/7 all summer and we still want to get at least one more striker in. It’s been very, very tough. We’re pleased with the players we’ve got – players with massive potential for the future – but we know there aren’t enough goals in the team at the moment.

“Pre-season hasn’t gone quite as planned. The worst thing is that we picked up injuries, in particular to Andy Carroll who is out for four months and makes a huge difference to us."

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Inter Milan are prepared to sell 28-year-old Colombian midfielder Fredy Guarín to Manchester United claim the Star. What they don't say is that Inter have been trying to sell Guarín to every Tom Dick and Harry, even immediately after he signs a contract. Clearly a contract for Inter is only a method to ensure a transfer fee, he signed the latest one in March.

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Bundesliga outfit Borussia Dortmund have criticised Bayern Munich over their public pursuit of 25-year-old forward Marco Reus report the Daily Mail. Quite why I don't know, if you don't want clubs coming after your players you shouldn't put a low buyout clause in their contracts, that's just inviting clubs to pursue them. Borussia Dortmund’s chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke can moan all he likes but they have brought it on themselves.

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Manchester City will offer captain Vincent Kompany a new £65 million six-year contract worth £200,000 per week to stay with the club. He is 28-years-old and a six year stay would see him end his career in Manchester. Having been with the club since 2008 he is one of the best central defenders in the Premier League and Man City are a far stronger team when he plays.